novels – Page 33 – Meilo Zaborowski: Author

Goal Update 10/31

Happy Halloween!

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Lost in a sea of keywords
On Target or Behind: On Target, I guess

How’s It Going:
Still working on it, folks. I’ll get there.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

Complete!

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 46500 words
Where I am: 43755 words
On Target or Behind: Behind

How’s It Going:
I probably won’t hit 50k. Again.

I’m trying not to just write “and then I killed them all, the end” and actually write something that seems like a real ending, but. It’s not great.

Goal Update 10/24

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Exhausted
On Target or Behind: Who’s keeping score?

How’s It Going:
I just need to sleep for like 3 years.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks (except L17 and L21, which get 4 weeks min)
Where I planned to be: Lesson 21, finished
Where I am: Lesson 21, finished
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Welp. It’s done. On time. Early, even. But ah…

Keep in mind, I added as well as cut, so…

I’m not thrilled. It started out at just over 50k words. Then again, I wasn’t thrilled by my writing method during first draft either, which probably accounts for the mass of filler and otherwise bad, lazy, or sloppy writing that got cut. Lesson thoroughly learned.

I’m overall not happy with this story. Something about it seems off, like it’s missing something (other than, you know, about 20k words). It’s probably a little heavy-handed, possibly even out-of-line. But I did the thing, and I owe it nothing more. So I’m gonna let it cool off for a while and revisit later.

Will it ever see the light of day? We just don’t know.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 45000 words
Where I am: 43050 words
On Target or Behind: Behind

How’s It Going:

Endings are hard, don’t ask.

Goal Update 10/17

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Not ready
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Welp, it’s my birthday tomorrow. If I had really wanted to, I could have gotten this out before now. But I want to do it right, or at least as close to right as possible. So I’m still doing some research. Keywords are hard. Like, really hard.

But I can say, it will be out soon. I still have another year to reach my goal of publishing before 30, but I’m not gonna wait that long.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks (except L17 and L21, which get 4 weeks min)
Where I planned to be: Lesson 21, 234 pages in
Where I am: Lesson 21, 234 pages in
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Going through the motions. One more week to go by my calculations. I’m definitely going to let this sit for a while when I’m done. I’ve made up my mind.

But I have been wondering if maybe I need another set of eyes on it. SKoS had too many eyes on it far too early, and while I managed to save it (thank you past me for saving and keeping old versions), if I could start over and do it differently, I would. This thing? Hasn’t been seen by anyone. Not sure if that may be part of the problem or not.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 43500 words
Where I am: 42717 words
On Target or Behind: Behind

How’s It Going:
Work’s been kinda wild the last two weeks, with my coworker being out sick, so my boss has me working mornings and sometimes all day. And this coming week he’s on vacation, so more mornings and possibly all day Friday. Which has really been throwing me off, and I’ve been prioritizing classwork over my books (because let’s be real, cybersecurity is where I’m going to actually make some money). And really, prioritizing the other two over this one.

So yeah, I’m behind. But I’m so stupid close to the end and otherwise fit to reach my goal that I don’t care.

ETA (11/19/20) is based on hitting my Daily Goal on Working Days. WPD to Goal (221) is the minimum number of words I need to write on Working Days to hit my Word Goal by the Due Date.

Goal Update 10/10

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: So close and yet so far away
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Trying to get a handle on how I want to release this. Sure, I could just publish it anytime, announce it everywhere, and be done with it.

But there are better ways. More work, but a good chance of better outcomes. I’m not expecting to become famous overnight, or even sell all that well right out of the gate. I just don’t want to rot at the bottom of the Amazon self-pub pit of despair.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks (except L17 and L21, which get 4 weeks min)
Where I planned to be: Lesson 21, 156 pages in
Where I am: Lesson 21, 156 pages in
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
I’m starting to think that, once I’m done revising this, I should let it sit for a while. Bear with me here. Because this is only my second revision, and the first one I’ve done all in one go. I know that over the many years I worked on SKoS, I learned things, I grew not just as an author, but as a person. As upset as I am with myself that I took so long to finish it, I think time is what made it what it is today.

So I think I should let this one sit for a while. Obviously not years. Maybe one, tops. Mostly, I think I just need some distance so I can figure out what it is that’s missing.

But recently I got an email from Holly (she has a mailing list that she uses to send out little tips) that really put this story and my issues with it in perspective. I don’t owe it anything. I got it out of my brain. Maybe time will shape it into something better. Maybe it’ll rot in my Google drive. If it turns out that it’s not something I want to put out into the world… so be it.

I can always write more.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 42000 words
Where I am: 42012 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
So I recently learned how to ride a bike (don’t ask) and I’m getting that feeling like when I’m careening straight for the pole that used to hold up the net on the tennis court (don’t ask) and suddenly my entire body forgets how to turn and I panic a little bit because oh god I’m gonna hit the pole and fall off the bike and it’s gonna hurt like a son of a bitch.

Where are my brakes???

Goal Update 10/3

Damn, is it really already October? I feel like I’ve done nothing for months, lol.

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
Where I am: Screaming internally
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Been looking into what I need to do to get this sucker published. Still working on it, though. Just need to get my ducks in a row here.

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks (except L17 and L21, which get 4 weeks min)
Where I planned to be: Lesson 21, 78 pages in
Where I am: Lesson 21, 78 pages in
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
So many typing. @_@

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
Where I planned to be: 40500 words
Where I am: 40503 words
On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
If it wasn’t obvious by now, I am literally flying by the seat of my pants here trying to keep up with my word count.

But, ah, home stretch? Only 9500 words to go.